Blog

I entreat you. If you have never taken part in the One Billion Rising V Day flashmob dance in Byron Bay before, consider doing so this year. Then make a day of it and come to the rich and stimulating Vagina Conversations in the evening of the same day or the next....

A very happy Summer Solstice to everyone in the southern hemisphere! (Happy Winter Solstice to you northerners.) According to our European ancestors, now is the time to celebrate the abundant ripe energy of the earth. (If you are looking for a forest loving Santa-free...

Each year I repost this sweet Christmas tale, which has no mention of Santa, but a focus on trees and forests, connection to earth. For five years the recording has been available for free, but this year a little fairy whispered to me, 'Why don't you allow people the...

For many years, my friend, Jacquelina Wills and I have dreamed of building a public, local labyrinth in Byron Shire. We recently scored a small grant from the Byron Shire Council’s Placemaking Seed Fund, as one of seven catalyst events for the Byron Bay Town Centre...

Though this article is a reworking of the blog post below it, I have posted it here due to popular request. It has enjoyed some good editing, thanks to American environmental storyteller Pete Griffin and the editors at theNational Storytelling Network (NSN)...

As the power of story has been increasingly recognised, the quote 'the best story wins' (1) has enjoyed high circulation. Organisational storyteller, Annette Simmons used it in the title of a book and subsequent workshops. So let's unpack for a bit, why stories are...

This year (2016), I have begun a new business called "Stories on Foot: Tales of Byron Bay and the Rainbow Region". Here I make a start on the story of why I started it and what I want to offer people through these tours. When my kids were still quite young I had the...

Updraft by Jenni Cargill-Strong There are little nubs growing where my shoulder blades should be Little nubs and upon them hang wings: translucent, tremulous, wet, wrinkled, folded. As I walk here, the crunch of gravel beneath my boots the...

Here is an updated version of this post I wrote last year. Do you need ideas for a last minute, low stuff, low impact Christmas? As we transition not all our choices may be 100% green but with some awareness we can still minimize our Xmas impact! It is a bit late but...

Last weekend, the world saw the largest global rally on climate change in history. I was at the Byron gathering and had the great honour of telling the folktale of "Elephant and Hummingbird" to the 800 gathered. We live in interesting times. So I am focusing my story...

This Friday 25 September, after the 10 am turtle tour with biologist Kathrina Southwell, I will be telling green stories at Australian Seabird Rescue Inc in Ballina. I'll tell the tale of "Shelley and Rustle" which ASR helped me write back in 2009 and some more marine...

Brian Hungerford was one of my early storytelling mentors. Lucky me, as he is a master storyteller and author of some renown! I first met Brian at the National Folk Festival and we performed together at Woodford Folk Festival. He was always enormously gracious and...

In my last blogpost, I wrote about the inaugural Golden Tales Local Stories Concert, which I co-ordinated with the Byron Circle of Tellers. The locals who came to tell stories included Lois Cook, Nyangbul storyteller and traditional custodian. Lois was recently...

Last June, ‘The Byron Circle of Tellers’ at my prompting, held an evening of community storytelling called “The Golden Tale Local Stories Concert”. People were asked to submit 5- 8 mins stories set in our local Shire, but they could be fact, fiction or faction (a mix...

This is the fourth and last post on the 'Green Storytelling' workshop I led last month in Brisbane. At the start of the workshop, I told the 'The Blue Coat'. Then, as our ice-breaker and in order to get participants telling as quickly as possible, I invited them to...

Last week I wrote a blog in answer to the first of three questions Paul Bishop asked me about Green Storytelling. Before I got around to answering the rest of the questions, Paul came along to the workshop and filmed an interview me and I covered all the questions and...

I just got asked three great questions about storytelling and my upcoming Green Storytelling workshop in Indigiscapes, Capalaba. 1. Why tell stories? (in an age of mass distraction) 2. How can stories help ME? (ie: in this ‘i-generation) 3. What can...

As we all know, mothering is a pretty big job. Modern women have parenting courses, books and blogs to help navigate this challenging pathway. In ancient times, some cultures had initiation rites, not only for young men, but also for young women. These rites of...

My latest CD 'Reaching for The Moon' (released late 2013) won an international award- and I am now officially able to announce it. It is higher than all the previous awards. My previous three albums each won Honours in the 'Storytelling World Awards' which is runner...